Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Michelle Templeton

Hi guys today I have a real treat for you.

This weeks featured Tell All Tuesday artist is a woodblock printmaker and I have to tell you I'm in looooooooooooooove with her work. Hope you enjoy this weeks share and FYI I NEED ARTISTS TO FEATURE HERE! So if you would like to see your name in *l*i*g*h*t*s* (...or as close to lights as I can get them for you) see below for details ;D

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Michelle Templeton and I am an artist in Seattle, USA. I’m also a wife, mama to a seven-year old boy, and a writer and editor. I also read many books and eat too much chocolate. I trained as a painter and figurative painting was my first love as an artist. About five years ago I rediscovered woodblock printmaking and I became obsessed with it. I love the process of carving the woodblocks and then having the final image revealed in the printing process as you peel back the paper to see what you’ve got. I also love the graphic quality of the black and white images. I still make paintings, but I have worked primarily on woodblock printmaking for the last few years.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
Time! I have learned to be very protective of my studio time but, even so, there never seems to be enough of it. I have the school runs, my part-time editing job, a million household errands…it’s the same struggle all working parents face. The difference is that making art isn’t a job you clock-in and out of. It’s certainly easier now that my son is a bit older but when he was a baby/toddler it was nearly impossible to have any work time at all. I think the only way to survive the working parent/studio time problem is to schedule the studio time and protect it at all costs. This sometimes means no time for the gym, tea with a friend, etc. but it’s the only way to make the art happen.

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist?
I often think about this question as how do I decide whether or not I am successful as an artist. I sell work, but I’d love to sell more work. I’d love to have more exposure; more people who see and experience my work in whatever form (live or online, etc.) But when I am still and quiet the truth that lives inside my heart is that I’m successful because I get to live and work as an artist. I get to have a studio and spend time making art. This is such a fantastic thing to have the honor and joy of doing. So I guess the answer is that my hearts desire is to keep making art for as long as I live.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?
This tends to happen when I complete a particular body of work or series and I’m poking around in the studio trying to sort out what to work on next. It’s frustrating. I like to look through art books, make sketches and look back through old work of mine to find new ideas. Sometimes I find it helps to read or listen to music in the studio without doing anything else – relaxing and taking the pressure off. But I do think it’s important to be in the studio. To show up even if you sit and read all day and get nothing done. I think it takes real bravery to keep showing up even when you don’t have the next idea. So I always tell myself, “if you can’t be brave, be stubborn…”

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

My website is here, I sell woodblock prints in my Etsy shop and I also write a blog. I’m on Facebook at Michelle Templeton Art, Twitter as @mtempletonart and on Pinterest as mtempletonart. Please come hang out with me online!

Hi Michelle, thank you so much for participating in Tell All Tuesday, I reallllllly enjoyed seeing your work and know others seeing this will be inspired by it also.

I also really like what you said at the end of your interview 'I think it takes real bravery to keep showing up even when you don’t have the next idea. So I always tell myself, “if you can’t be brave, be stubborn…”' I LOVE this, and I think it's so true for many of us to remember when we get discouraged to still TURN UP! I too get this way after I have completed a big project, I've been taking much better notice of my patterns this past year and realised I should allow this, without adding the pressure to 'get back on it, straight away, now' (as the little voices say). Like anything else we do we need time to recuperate, recharge our batteries & our inspiration tanks when we have given a lot of energy to something now complete, and I for one will be taking the idea on being in the studio more during these times without any pressure to do with me from this interview, so thank you.